LOS ANGELES _ California State University, the largest public university system in the nation, announced Friday it would suspend its SAT and ACT testing requirement for students seeking admission in 2021-2022 amid continued uncertainty over the educational impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.
The admission adjustment represents a major shift for the CSU system, which educates nearly half a million students and currently relies exclusively on the combination of an SAT or ACT score and a student's GPA to determine acceptance eligibility.
The decision by the 23-campus system follows a similar one by the University of California earlier this month.
"The California State University has provided access to a high-quality education for millions of Californians from all walks of life, and we will continue to fulfill our academic mission even during these most trying of times," CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White said in a statement. "This temporary change will ensure equitable access to the university, and should provide some measure of relief to prospective students and their families."
Under the new guidelines, first-time freshmen seeking admission in the fall 2021, winter 2022 or spring 2022 terms must have earned a high school diploma or equivalent, completed the 15-course college preparatory sequence known as the "A-G" requirements, and earned a 2.5 GPA or better.
Any student with a GPA of 2.0 to 2.49 may be evaluated, based on supplemental factors such as additional coursework, extracurricular activities and household income. It will be up to each campus to determine the supplemental criteria and communicate them to prospective students.
The standards laid out Friday would apply only to California residents and graduates of California high schools. Non-California residents may be eligible for admission if they earn a 3.0 GPA or better and meet other supplemental criteria determined by individual campuses.
The change in admission requirements will affect all campuses and programs in the CSU system, including those that have been deemed "impacted" _ meaning unable to enroll everyone who is eligible. Those campuses and programs may require higher GPA thresholds and identify their own supplemental criteria and their relative weight.
